Agencies, Jakarta – A quake of 6.1 magnitude hit West Java area on Saturday, the Geophysics Agency BMKG said, sending people running out of buildings.

The quake has no tsunami potential, the agency said. It was felt in capital Jakarta, around 200 km from the epicentre.

One person was injured and four houses were damaged in the town of Garut, said Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

Some residents of other towns and cities in West Java said on social media they felt the quake strongly. A Reuters witness in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, said guests of a hotel ran out of the building but had since returned inside.

Last month a shallow quake of 5.6 magnitude hit West Java's Cianjur, killing more than 300.

The head of BNPB, Suharyanto, told local news channel MetroTV that authorities were still making checks in other places near the epicentre on Saturday.

"Hopefully the impact is not as bad as Cianjur because this time the epicentre is pretty deep," he told MetroTV.

The magnitude was initially reported at 6.4 with a depth of 118 km (73 miles) and was later updated with a depth of 109 km.

BMKG reported a smaller 2.9 magnitude quake at 107 km depth hit near the first quake over an hour later.

Budi Satria, the local rescue chief in Garut, said there appeared to be no significant damage.

"Some people ran outside when the earthquake happened but when it calmed down, they went back to their activities. Thank God, so far everything is safe," he told local broadcaster Kompas.

Last month a shallow 5.6-magnitude quake hit the town of Cianjur in West Java, killing 331 people, injuring thousands and leaving tens of thousands homeless after it collapsed buildings and triggered landslides.

Many were found buried under rubble in the days following the quake with few successful rescues reported. One operation to free a six-year-old boy was described as a "miracle" by emergency workers.

Residents of Cianjur were shaken again by Saturday's quake and some roofs were lightly damaged, local military official Haryanto told Kompas.

"It made us feel like we were swaying. We could see hanging lamps swaying," he said.

Last month's disaster was the deadliest earthquake to hit the archipelago nation since a 2018 quake and resulting tsunami killed more than 4,000 people on the island of Sulawesi.

A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi in January last year also killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2022/12/04/magnitude-61-quake-hits-west-java.htm